MOSCOW, August 18 (RIA Novosti) - Russia has seen a certain growth in felonies, a senior police official said at a news briefing.
Lieutenant General Nikolai Ovchinnikov, the head of the organized crime and terrorism department of the Russian Interior Ministry, said 318 gang-related crimes had been registered in the last six months under the article. Only 251 of them were solved.
The overall crime did not increase, Ovchinnikov said.
In the past six months, the department has solved 20,000 crimes committed by organized criminal groups, a 15% year-on-year increase.
However, Ovchinnikov did not specify last year's figures, saying only that the positive dynamics was due to uncovered murders, blackmail and smuggling.
